I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by LanieSullivan
Summary: A tiny little filler ficlet for Night Crawler taking place on the evening after the conversation in the Q Bureau regarding Lee's pension.


Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Just a little ficlet that struck me this morning and a bit of a prequel to "Happy Valentine's Day Massacre." I would like to ask my readers ahead of time to please not spoil the ending of this for other readers. Thank you.

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 _What a day,_ she thought as she kicked off her sensible shoes into her closet then sank wearily for a moment onto her bed to rest her aching feet grateful that the house was for the moment, blissfully quiet and that she was alone with her thoughts. She never would understand some of the women she worked with like Francine and how they chose fashion over comfort. Of course, she'd told her so many times, but that wasn't really what was weighing on her mind today. Today, it was the events that had transpired upstairs in the Q Bureau, that conversation...

Heaving a deep sigh and trying to shake it off, she rose to her feet, made her way down the stairs and into her cheery kitchen, the one she'd once tried to keep just so for the husband that she no longer had. She shook off that not so pleasant memory. It did no good to dwell on the past, not now...now that she had a new relationship that was making her happy and that was turning out to be something. She lifted the lid from her slow cooker to check on the stew she'd begun before leaving for the office that day and reflected again upon that conversation in the office, grinning slightly at the memory of Lee Stetson's awkward and somewhat bashful smile as he'd entered the room.

By that look, she just knew he'd overheard the "bring on the rice," comment. In thinking of the way he'd looked at her, her grin broadened and as she added a pinch here and a dash there to her stew, she found herself humming "Chapel of Love" in delight while she replayed the scene again in her mind. Could it be? He'd certainly seemed agitated that his pension and benefits documents had been hand-delivered to the Q Bureau. "Did we say we were coming up to the Bureau," had been his hurried response, the saucy reply being, "We didn't say that we wouldn't," as the bearer of said documents had been shuffled out the door. She couldn't help the tiny chuckle that escaped her at the memory of the post-it stuck to his tie.

She just wondered what had been going on in his head after that. She didn't really see what the big deal was. After all, it wasn't as if it were exactly a secret around the office water cooler that he no longer prowled the steno pool, no longer flashed that cocky, dimpled grin at every female agent who walked by. It wasn't much talked about as they'd been very discreet about it, but everyone knew what was really going on. She just wondered if anyone else knew just how serious things had really gotten or if they saw her as just another of his "black-book girls." She supposed it didn't matter. She knew the truth...or at least she thought she did. She hoped she did.

Putting the finishing touches on her stew, she ladled the finished product into a soup tureen, carried out to her dining table for dinner, still thinking about the events of the day and humming as she returned to the kitchen for soup bowls and spoons, but was soon pulled from her reverie by the slamming of the door and the calling of her name.

"In the dining room," she called back as she hurried back into the room. and had just finished setting the table when a pair of arms encircled her waist.

"I'm here," a male voice whispered in her ear as he held her close.

She turned to face him, brushed a soft kiss to his lips, pulled back from his embrace and gushed, "Just wait until you hear about the day I had! You will not believe it!"

"Do tell, Edna, My Love" Austin Smyth replied as he took a seat at the table. "I'm all ears."

"Well, it all began with Lee Stetson requesting his pension information," she told him with a dramatic flair as she sat at the end of the table beside him and smiled. "You know what that means. He's got a new bird in the cage."

"Hmmm..." He replied thoughtfully and then turned to her and smiled warmly. "Remind me to have you check on mine some time too."

She looked back at him with a knowing grin and replied, "What makes you think I already haven't?"


End file.
